Some kinda death wish
by Bubbly Washing Machine
Summary: They stood at the bottom of the stairs, in the dark, and argued. "Rube, don't go up there," said Clancy desperately, "just wait for the rest of the team." "Look bozo, someone's gotta take her out before she catches on and splits the scene." Clancy looked her in the eye, pleading. "Please. Wait for backup."


**SOME KINDA DEATH WISH**

 **Because Ruby's got some sorta 'miracle complex' and Clancy's an overprotective cinnamon bun.**

 **…**

They stood at the bottom of the stairs, in the dark, and argued.

"Rube, don't go up there," said Clancy desperately, "just wait for the rest of the team."

"Look bozo, someone's gotta take her out before she catches on and splits the scene."

Clancy looked her in the eye, pleading. "Please. Wait for backup."

Ruby just rolled her eyes. "I'm a field agent now Clancy. This is what I do. I'll be fine. You got a problem with that?" She put her hands on her hips.

Clancy knew it was rhetorical, but still. "I do have a problem with that! You could be hurt, or killed!"

"You're not my mother Crew, so lay off would you?! This. Is. My. Job."

"Could you just wait ten minutes!"

"I need to go in there NOW!"

"She's dangerous!"

"So am I!"

"Please!"

"What is your actual problem Crew!? She could be running like stink in the other direction this very minute and we'd have no clue!"

"You'll die if you go up there without a team! She'll kill you just like she killed those agents before you, and the ones before that. You don't stand a chance if you go in alone!"

"Clancy, more people are going to die if I let her get AWAY!"

"I CAN'T LOSE YOU!" Clancy cried, his hands balling into fists. Ruby blinked.

He looked away from her, in anger or embarrassment, Ruby couldn't tell. "Every day that you skip school; I practically lose my marbles! I never know whether today's gonna be _that_ day – when Hitch comes to my door or phones me up to tell me that _the kid finally ran out of luck_. How come you can't see? What it does to me? Am I so unimportant, such a minor character to you that you don't even notice when I've been worried sick for the past 24 hours 'cause you're actually somewhere in New York tracking a murderer?! Just because you have some kinda death wish doesn't mean you're invincible! I need you Ruby Redfort, and I won't let you go up there to be slaughtered by a serial killer. Not today. Not ever!"

By some feat of self-control his arms weren't flapping but clenched by his side. Finally, he looked at her, and Ruby slowly saw all the pain and hurt deep in his eyes, all the pain and hurt that _she_ had put him through, her best friend, her most trusted ally, the one she loved more than anything. She had been so caught up in her own spy thriller that she had utterly been blind to how Clancy was dealing with her new job. A choked sob rose in her throat and she looked down in shock and mortification.

 _Ruby Redfort you are such a potato head._

"Come here, you." She whispered, and hugged him tight. And after a second of awkwardness, he hugged her back, and everything felt better. "I just want you to be safe. It kills me not knowing if you're alive or dead." Clancy sobbed into her hair. Ruby felt sick to her stomach, because of course he _did_ know how it felt to have that fear; when the Count had her locked up in a room filling with sand, and Hitch and Clancy had thought she was a goner, buried. And when she left him on a boat in the ocean, searching for a sea monster or something ridiculous… And those countless days she skipped school to train, without ever telling him why… And when she was on a rooftop, being dangled over the edge by an evil mastermind… That had happened more than once actually…

She felt so stupid then. She groaned and said, "Jeepers Clance, am I a terrible friend." Which actually made him cry harder. And of course his crying made her cry… and soon they were both a laughing, bawling, snotty wreck.

Needless to say, the Spectrum SWAT team, led by Hitch himself, were more than a little surprised to arrive at the apartment and find agent Redfort and her scrawny friend red eyed and sniffily sitting with their backs to the wall, waiting for backup.


End file.
